Delays as bank holiday getaway begins

• Heavy traffic on routes to Cornwall and Devon and on M25
• AA warns Leeds festival-goers over satnav misdirections
• Map: bank holiday troublespots (pdf)

Britain's roads are bearing the brunt of the bank holiday exodus this weekend, living up to predictions that it would be the busiest traffic of the year.

The AA estimated that 14 million cars would be on the roads over the weekend, and the tailbacks have already started. Holidaymakers are facing particularly heavy traffic on routes to Cornwall and Devon, on the A30 and A39 eastbound near Bodmin Moor, and near Salisbury Plain after an accident on the A303.

A motorcycle accident on the M25 caused the road to close this morning between junctions 5 and 6. Drivers faced delays of up to one and a half hours. The M25 is also slow in Hertfordshire due to weight of traffic, as is the M23 in Surrey and the M4 in Berkshire.

The AA warned people travelling to the Leeds festival, which starts today, to double-check which junction to leave the motorway on, after receiving reports of drivers getting lost when directed the wrong way by their satellite navigation systems. Many satnavs are not yet up to date with recent junction renumbering on the A1 in Yorkshire.

BAA forecast that 50,000 fewer people than last year would use its seven UK airports, which include Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick. "There is less business travel over the bank holiday period, but you would expect there to be some reflection of the economic circumstances in the bank holiday figures," said a spokesman. Almost 12 million Britons are expected to travel within the UK over the period, and nearly 2 million are predicted to go abroad.

A survey by Visit England found that 11.9 million Britons planned to take a trip with one night or more away during a two-week period including the bank holiday – up 25% from 2007.

Music festivals

The AA said the number of events scheduled over the weekend could add to travel woes.

"As well as families heading off before schools go back, there's also a full schedule of music festivals, airshows, sports fixtures and other major events," said the AA's Stewart Topp.

In addition to the Leeds and Reading music festivals, which started today with Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead headlining over the next three nights, an estimated 1 million revellers are expected at London's Notting Hill carnival over Sunday and Monday.

The problems are expected to worsen towards the end of the weekend. "The worst of the traffic will be when people head home on bank holiday Monday evening and then return to work on the Tuesday," said Topp.

The Highways Agency, which operates Britain's motorway network, said more than 50 sets of roadworks had been either completed or suspended before the weekend, but warned that routes to all major ports and holiday destinations would be busy.

Less disruption is expected on the railways, with more than 3,500 more trains running than last year. But National Rail warned that all long-distance rail services, especially to Scotland and the West Country, were expected to be busier than usual as people escape the cities. Train operators expect around 8 million passengers to travel on more than 70,000 train services over the bank holiday weekend, with long-distance operators expecting Friday and Monday to be the busiest days. No unexpected problems have been reported so far.

Overseas bookings

Travel agents' organisation Abta predicted that 1.9 million Britons would leave the UK between Friday and Monday, with nearly 900,000 flying from London airports. The Office for National Statistics published figures this month showing that trips abroad by UK residents dropped by 17% in the first half of the year as people opted for "staycations". Abta claimed that there had been a late surge in Britons booking overseas trips for the bank holiday, although BAA's traffic numbers suggest a decline in charter flights.

"Obviously people have been holding on to their money until they are sure they have enough to go away with and, as a result, we have seen a surge in late bookings," said the Abta chairman, John McEwan.

Eurostar estimated it would carry 140,000 passengers between yesterday and Tuesday – with almost half of those travelling into the UK. The company said the strength of the euro meant many Europeans were using the weekend to visit London in particular.

It will be a good weekend for sport, with Manchester United playing Arsenal at Old Trafford on Saturday and England's cricketers taking on Australia in the Twenty20 Cup in Manchester on Monday – not to mention the world gravy wrestling championship in Stacksteads, Lancashire, also on Monday.

Forecasters have warned not to expect too much from the weather, with temperatures in most of the country staying low, between 16C and 19C. "Saturday doesn't look like a bad day – it should be bright and windy, but rather cool with some blustery showers across northern parts of the UK," said Tony Conlan, forecaster for MeteoGroup UK.

"Sunday might start bright in some eastern areas but then there'll be showery outbreaks for most parts. Monday will start cloudy and there'll probably be outbreaks of rain in the north and north-west UK, but the south and south-east in particular will see a mainly dry day with some warmer sunshine later on, possibly getting up to 25C or 26C in the far south-east."

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• United Kingdom
• Road transport

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